


Post-Pit Patchup

by Closeted_Calliope



Category: Trolls (Movies 2016 2020)
Genre: Bullying, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, Overprotectiveness, Pre-Relationship, Rock Show, mosh pit, oh my god these bitches gay, rated t for injuries blood and mild swearing, slight hurt mostly comfort, tender moments, tending to wounds in a gay way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-16 02:35:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29568999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Closeted_Calliope/pseuds/Closeted_Calliope
Summary: After months of pestering, Barb finally decides to take Poppy to a rock show. Barb warns her about the mosh pit, telling her it might be a bit too hardcore for her first show, but of course, the best laid plans never follow through, do they?
Relationships: Queen Barb/Queen Poppy (Trolls)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 32





	Post-Pit Patchup

**Author's Note:**

> Unsurprisingly, I have only Nick (spaloonbabooguscooties on tungle) to blame for this. Bro, why you brain gotta be so wrinkly and thicc???? Regardless, enjoy!

"I knew I could get through to you eventually!"

Barb scoffed with a smirk. "Well, I mean if it gets you to stop asking me..."

"I think you're just excited to show me the culture of rock trolls and you're just too stubborn to admit it."

"Whatever you gotta tell yourself, Popsqueak." 

Despite Barb's typical standoffishness, Poppy was truly thrilled to be attending the big rock concert that night. She hadn't attended once since.... well, since the world tour, and that wasn't exactly a situation where she could sit back and enjoy the music of another troll tribe. 

But once that all got sorted out, Poppy begged for months on end for Barb to take her to an actual genuine rock concert, and every time, Barb would respond with the same thing; "That's probably not a great idea, Poppy, those concerts get pretty intense, and I don't want you to get hurt."

However, for whatever reason, this time when Poppy asked, Barb sighed and said "You know what? If you really want to go, I'll take you, but you gotta stay close to me, alright? I wasn't lying when I said these things get intense."

Barb chuckled as she and Poppy made their way through the streets of Volcano Rock City, Poppy barely able to contain her immense excitement. If she was being honest, she was super nervous for tonight. 

She was gonna do it. She was gonna tell Poppy that she liked her.

She'd fallen for her that first day, when she united the other troll kingdoms through song and helped everyone get their color back, and her feelings only grew stronger from there. She'd spent many a night venting to Riff about how she felt, though she'd always ignore his suggestions of telling her how she felt. 

But she couldn't wait forever to tell Poppy her feelings, Riff had made that point very much clear, and as much as she hated to admit it, he was right. So, she'd finally agreed to take Poppy to a show. And as soon as the show was over, she'd tell her how she was really felt.

But she tried not to focus on that too much, lest she psyche herself out. She instead focused on the happy little hops Poppy made with every step she took. She couldn't help but chuckle as Poppy squealed, "Oooooh, this is gonna be so much fun!"

"I think you're really gonna like it, Popsicle, but, uh," Barb paused to clear her throat, "I can't stress enough how-"

"How intense these concerts are?" Poppy finished with a sly grin. "I know, Barb. You've only mentioned it every time i asked to come along. You're starting to sound like Branch at this point."

Barb barked out a laugh. "Please, I'm nowhere near as bad as him."

Poppy just stuck her tongue out teasingly.

Barb continued, "But seriously though; I know you're used to your pop parties and whatever, but rock trolls aren't like that. We get real violent. We'll punch each other in the face just for fun!"

"I know, Barb, I did my research on rock trolls, I'm not afraid of a little roughhousing."

"I just don't want you to get hurt, is all," Barb admitted, looking away.

"Awwww, Baaaaaarb! I didn't know you cared so much!"

"Yeah, yeah, just don't let it go to your head."

They continued walking in comfortable silence until they eventually reached the venue: a dull little hole in the wall with a gnarly looking troll standing guard.

As Poppy attempted to head inside, ahead of Barb, the security stepped in front of her and snarled, "Ticket, please."

"Um...." Poppy didn't even know she needed a ticket.

"Don't worry, Knuckles," Barb assured him with a confident grin. "She's my plus one."

The guard didn't answer, simply nodding with a grunt and throwing up some horns. Barb threw some up in response and grabbed Poppy by the arm. "C'mon, they're gonna be starting soon."

Barb dragged Poppy through the entrance as Poppy called back with a cheerful wave, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Knuckles!"

Once again, Knuckles only nodded, with the slightest hints of a smile creeping onto his face. 

Unsurprising, as Poppy usually had that effect on people.

The inside of the venue was much bigger and bolder than the outside: thick steel chains hung from exposed beams in the ceiling, and various rock trolls swung from them, whooping in excitement. Bright, different colored lights poured from the ceiling, splashing the room in various shades of rainbow. The floor was swarmed with trolls, mostly rockers but with rowdy members of other tribes, and they all kept glancing for the stage, more than ready for the show to start.

Poppy was little amazed, taking a second to take everything. "W-Woah," she breathed.

"Pretty rad, huh?" Barb asked with a grin.

"You could say that again." Poppy noticed how far away they were from the stage. "Do you think we could get a bit closer to the stage? I wanna be able to see the band when they start."

Barb sucked in a breath through clenched teeth. "I'm not so sure about that, Poprocks, I don't want you to, like, accidentally get swept up into the mosh pit."

"We don't have to get that close! Just a little bit so I can see once the show starts! Please?" Poppy gave her the biggest, saddest puppy dog eyes she could manage.

Before Barb could answer, though, the lights began to dim and a drumbeat began to kick on.

Poppy squealed, "Ohhhhh! It's starting!"

She grabbed Barb by the hand, failing to notice the severe blush creeping onto her cheeks, and pulled her towards the front of the venue, standing a few good feet away from the edge of the quickly forming mosh pit.

The bassist and guitarist rose from platforms in the floor and began to play, and the crowd roared at the sight.

Poppy looked around in confusion for a moment. She turned to Barb and asked, "Where's the singer?"

"Oh, she's really well known for her big dramatic entrances, you're gonna love it."

As if on cue, a large birdcage sunk down a bit from a hole in the ceiling, a shape covered in a black cloak lurking inside. About halfway down, the figure tore off her cloak, revealing a dark green rock troll with thick black hair. She tossed the cloak into the crowd with a wild grin, showing off a set of teeth that had been filed down to a sharp point. Throwing herself into the bars of her cage, she bit into the hard metal and tore out a chunk without too much trouble.

Poppy couldn't help but gape as the singer spit out the chunk of metal into the crowd, hands scrambling to grab it as a sick souvenir. She leapt effortlessly toward the stage and landed in a sick power stance before she began to sing.

Barb watched as Poppy began to really get into the music, jumping up and down to the beat with a huge grin on her face. She smiled softly. It was nice to see the girl she loved enjoying herself. 

She tried not to focus too hard on Poppy, not wanting to end up staring only for Poppy to catch her, and instead tried to enjoy the music, as it was one of her favorite bands.

The two queens chilled like that together for a few songs, just taking in the music and the atmosphere together. They expressed their happiness in different ways (Poppy with a lot more dancing and cheering, Barb a bit more nonchalant in appearance but still having occasional outbursts of energy), but still enjoyed the concert and enjoyed each other's presence.

Unfortunately, not all were happy to see the mixing of the genres, especially with their own leader. A group of particularly mean looking rockers had been watching Poppy like a hawk from the very beginning. They hadn't been happy to see Barb fail to complete the world tour, and even less happy about seeing her mingle with a pop troll. And so they watched bitterly, waiting for their moment to strike. 

There was a short lull between songs, and Barb looked over at Poppy, becoming briefly enamored with how the sweat dripped down her blushing cheeks. When Poppy turned and noticed her, she managed to nervously stammer, "I-I'm gonna go g-get some water real quick."

She hiked her thumb over her shoulder to point at a small table full of little cups of water. Just because the rock trolls were hardcore didn't mean they didn't take basic steps to keep themselves hydrated and safe.

Poppy grinned and gave her a thumbs up. "No problem, Barbecue!"

Forcing herself not to screech at the cute nickname, Barb quickly excused herself towards the water table.

As the next song began to play, the group of rockers rolled in, surrounding Poppy in a matter of seconds.

She was welcoming and kind, of course, despite the sinking feeling in her chest, and asked, "Hello, fellas! How can I help you guys?"

"You think you're real tough, don't you, pop troll?" One of them snapped.

"I... what?"

"Yeah, you can't just weasel your way into our home and expect us to just be okay with it!"

"I-I'm not trying to weasel into anything, I-"

A pair of hands tightly grabbing her shoulder cut her off mid sentence and hissed in her ear, "Why don't you try hanging in the pit with us? I mean, you're _so_ interested in rock culture, right?"

Poppy was so surprised by the suddenness of it all that she could barely protest as the group shuffled her towards the mosh pit. "I don't think, uh..."

Barb chugged down a cup of water and sighed. She couldn't lose her cool now, not in the middle of the concert. She had to stay calm, at least until afterward, when she could talk to Poppy in private. 

She turned to go head back over to Poppy, only to find her surrounded by a group of rockers, a group infamous for starting trouble, forcing her towards the pit. 

Barb's whole soul felt as though it burst into flames, and she growled quietly, crushing the paper cup in her hand. 

Oh no. 

This wasn't gonna happen. 

Not tonight.

Poppy stumbled into the middle of the pit, just barely stepping out of the way in time to avoid an overly excited mosher. 

One of the rockers shoved her further in. "C'mon, pop troll," he taunted, "show us your little pop moves!"

The others in his little posse snickered at his mediocre-at-best one-liner.

"Could you guys stop?!?"

"What's wrong? Can't take it with the big digs?" Another one sneered, shoving Poppy directly into the path of an oncoming mosher, who's hand ended up making direct contact with her face and knocking her to the ground.

"Poppy!"

Barb pushed her way into the pit and slid over to Poppy, reaching out to help her up. "Are you okay?!?"

Poppy took her hand with a grateful smile. "I'll be okay, Barb, don't worry about it."

As she pulled her up, Barb couldn't help but fixate on a small scratch on Poppy's cheek. It wasn't anything serious, not even breaking the skin, but it made Barb's boil hotter than it had ever been.

She whipped around to face the rockers, still cackling behind her. She snapped, "What the hell is wrong with you?!? She told you shitheads to stop!"

One of them, the group's designated leader of sorts, scoffed. "Aw, c'mon now, Barbie, we were just joshin' around, right, Pinky?" He shot a gross wink at Poppy, who scowled in disgust.

"Pretty sure it doesn't count as just joshin' if not everyone's in on the joke, Spencer," Barb hissed back. "I think it's about time you left."

"What are you talkin' about, Barbie? We're only getting started here! You need to chill out a little bit." To emphasize his point, Spencer shoved Barb back a little, much to the delight of his cronies.

Barb took a deep breath. Oh, she couldn't _not_ kill them now.

She turned to Poppy and commanded in a harsh whisper, "You need to get out of the pit _right now_."

"Barb, what are you going to do?"

"It's gonna be ok, Cakepop, but I need you out of the pit. It's about to get real rough and I don't want you to get hurt."

Poppy opened her mouth to protest, but the look in Barb's eyes was so strong, so worried, that Poppy couldn't help but nod and comply, quickly darting out of the pit.

She turned her gaze back towards Spencer and his little group. There was only 5 of them. Not ideal, but she could definitely take them.

Spencer began another one of his garbage remarks. "What's wrong, Barbie? Had enough of-"

He was immediately shut up as Barb's fist made direct contact with his face, knocking him to the floor. 

"I've had enough of your shit tonight, Spencer. Get out of here before I call in Knuckles."

Spencer's cronies began to crack their knuckles and roll their joints as he got to his feet, wiping away the blood flowing out of his nose. "Oh, you're really in for it now, Barbie," he snarled. "Don't think we're gonna go easy on you just cause you're the queen!"

Barb smirked. "Sure hope you don't, I was looking forward to kicking all your asses."

Spencer lunged at her and Barb dodged out of the way, smashing her fist into his side and sending him stumbling to the side.

Another two of his guys raced forward. 

But Barb was one step ahead, jumping into the air and smashing their heads together and taking them out of the fight. 

As she landed, a hand grabbed her by the arm, pulled her closer and socked her in the face. Tears reflexively spilled from her eye as she stumbled back. 

It wasn't long before she regained her balance with a snarl. She kicked the cronie’s leg's out from under him and kicked him in the side for good measure.

But then a pair of hands were on her back and suddenly her face was buried in the floor. She hissed at kick to her ribs. The next time a kick came, though, she grabbed him by the leg and yanked as hard as she could, sending him to the ground with a groan. 

As she struggled to get to her feet, she noticed Spencer finally recovering from his own hit from earlier. She raised her fists, anger in her eyes. She wasn't going to let him get away with hurting Poppy.

She took a few steps closer to him and swung. Spencer ducked at the last moment.

Suddenly his fist connected with her nose, sending her flying backwards to the ground.

She was only vaguely aware of Poppy yelling her name with concern.

Spencer kneeled over her and prepared to sock her again, but she grabbed his shirt collar and bashed his head against her own. 

As he slumped over to the ground, Barb climbed on top of him and began railing on his face, her fists hitting his face with a small thud each time.

Then a pair of huge, but not threatening, hands took her gently but firmly by the shoulders and pulled her off before she could do much damage. Once she was off, she shook herself free and spun around, ready to cuss this asshole out.

It was Knuckles, who held his hands up in surrender. 

Barb's tension drained from her body as she sighed, "Oh, it's you. Sorry about all that, Knuckles.

"Don't worry about it too much, Your Rockness," Knuckles assured her with a small smile. "This lot's been causing issues for weeks now, but they've never gotten physical until now. You've just given me a legal reason to have them permanently banned."

"Am... Do I need to be banned too?"

Knuckles snorted, "You think rock royalty's never started a couple brawls before?”

Barb chuckled quietly. "Ok, yeah, that's fair."

"I think you better go now, get you and your lady there patched up."

"Actually she's not my-"

Barb was suddenly aware that the performance had paused, both the band and all the other concert goers staring at Barb and the damage she'd caused. 

".....Could you call-"

"Riff's already on his way with a critterbike."

"You're a lifesaver, Knuckles."

Dusting herself off a little bit, Barb looked out at her people and shouted, "Sorry about that little interruption, folks! Just another mosh brawl gone too far, you know how it gets. But it's gotten settled now, so by all means, LETS GET BACK TO ROCKIN!"

The crowd howled with glee and the band began another song. Barb jogged over to Poppy, who was looking at her with such sincere worry. 

"Don't worry about a thing, Popsqueak, I got it all under-"

"You're bleeding."

Barb raised her fingers to her nose and felt wet. She pulled them away to find them covered in red. 

"Oh yeah, would you look at that? Yeah, it happens sometimes."

Poppy sighed. "We should get you to like a doctor or something-"

"Poppy, it's okay, I promise. We rock trolls are sturdy, it's gonna take more than just a bloody nose-"

"And a black eye-"

"-and a black eye to stop us!"

Poppy didn't look very convinced, but regardless nodded and replied, "Okay."

"Now, c'mon, Riff's bringing a critterbike this way and we can head back to my place."

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ride back towards the royal fortress was long and silent.

Once Riff had showed up, he offered to just walk back since there really wasn’t enough room on the critter for all three of them. Though, of course, he did lift his beanie enough for Barb to see a huge wink directed at her as soon as Poppy’s back was turned. Bastard.

Poppy had offered to drive since Barb was injured, but Barb pointed that she barely had any experience on a critterbike, so it was probably not the best idea. Still, she assured her that it wasn't the first time she'd had to drive in such a state and that they would be fine. She'd expected Poppy to protest, for her to insist that it would be safer if she drove, but Poppy simply shrugged and agreed quietly.

Barb got on the bike first. Riff helped Poppy up next, but not before pulling her close and whispering something in her ear, to quietly for Barb to hear. Whatever he said, it made Poppy grin and give him an awkward sideways hug.

She knew she didn’t have any reason to be jealous. After all, Riff wasn’t even remotely interested in the type of troll Poppy was (which was to say, girls). But of course that didn’t stop the heat from rising in her cheeks and forcing her to look away.

She didn’t see Poppy get on the back of the bike, v she did feel her arms slink around her waist for support, careful to avoid where she’d been kicked in the ribs earlier.

Barb ignored the blush creeping onto her cheeks and turned to face Riff, giving him a quick farewell nod. As she began to drive off, she felt Poppy's hand leave her waist for just a moment, to wave goodbye to Riff, and she couldn't help but smile as she flew up into the air.

Poppy was uncharacteristically quiet as they flew, not even so much as humming a perky little song under her breath. It was honestly a little bit concerning.

Barb gripped the handlebars a bit tighter, ignoring the stinging in her bloody knuckles. She couldn't let her thoughts drift too far off course, lest he get distracted and crash the bike and kill herself, the girl she loved, and her critterbike.

 _Shit. I really **am** starting to sound like Branch_. 

A strong wind blew into the bike, hitting the trolls at full force. Barb didn't really care too much; she'd faced stronger winds than this before. Poppy, on the other hand, instinctively tightened her grip on Barb, brushing her arm against the still tender spot on Barb's ribs.

She couldn't help but hiss a little at the pain.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" Poppy fretted, loosening her hold on Barb just a tad, much to Barb's internal disappointment.

"It's okay, don't stress about it too much, Popsicle," Barb assured her, though it sounded slightly strained. "We'll be at the fortress soon, so just hang tight."

Barb could've sworn she heard Poppy sigh sadly, but it was really hard to tell with all the wind. So she just took a deep breath and tried to focus on getting them home safely.

The rest of the ride went without incident, and as they landed, a few stray rock trolls saw the blood and bruises on Barb's face and let out excited cries as they threw up some horns. Barb smirked, sliding off the critterbike with ease before turning to help Poppy off. 

"Think you guys can take Jimi back to the stables for me?" She asked her enthusiastic subjects.

They saluted half-heartedly and exclaimed, "Anything for you, Your Radness!" 

As they gently began to lead the critterbike, Jimi, off, Barb took Poppy by the arm and said, "We could probably go hang out in my room for a bit if you want."

Poppy nodded silently.

Barb was getting a little fed up with Poppy's weird behavior, but she wasn't gonna call her out on it with all these other trolls around. 

She wordlessly led Poppy through the twisting, turning halls of the royal fortress. She was finally about to ask what Poppy's whole deal was when suddenly Poppy asked, "So, you named your critterbike?"

"Huh?"

"Your critterbike, you said his name was Jimi, you gave him a name?"

"Well, yeah. Why wouldn't I?"

Poppy shrugged. "I dunno, it just sometimes feels like rock trolls wouldn't worry too much about giving their bikes a name."

"Hey, I'll have you know that everyone I know with a bike has named them," Barb informed her with a smirk. "We gotta let the others know our bike is cooler than theirs by having the raddest name possible."

"That's really cool, actually!"

Barb opened up a door and gestured for Poppy to come inside. "Here we are."

Barb's room was just about what Poppy had been expecting; old clothes, empty pizza boxes, and broken guitars lay strewn across the floor in various piles. The walls were covered in old band posters and fancy guitars that looked like they'd never been played. There was a dirty old couch covered in various indescribable stains, and a few beanbag chairs tossed around that looked like they were about to fall apart. An old mattress with the sheets barely hanging on sat in the corner, with a roost containing a sleepy Debbie hung right above it.

"I like what you've done with the place," Poppy lied, "it's, uh... very you?"

"You can say it's gross, I won't be upset. I haven't had anyone other than Riff come in here in ages."

"Barb I swear on my favorite cupcake recipe if you do not clean your room I am going to clean it for you."

Barb barked out a laugh. "I'd like to see you try." 

That's when she realized that this was the perfect time to tell her how she really felt.

"Hey, Poppy? I gotta ask you something-"

"Where's your bathroom?"

Well, so much for that plan. "It's, uh, just through that door."

Poppy grinned, and Barb was suddenly aware of the mischievous glint in her eye. "Great! Now let's go get you patched up!"

"Wait, what-?"

Poppy took ahold of Barb's hand, mindful of her bloody knuckles, and began pulling her towards the bathroom.

Barb attempted to pull away, but it turned out that Poppy was _a lot_ stronger than she looked. "What are you doing?!?"

"We're gonna crack open your first aid kit and patch you up!"

"What?!? I don't even have a first aid kit!"

"That's not what Riff said~" Poppy said in a sing-song voice.

"Ugh. Bastard."

"It'll be okay, Barb-"

"Poppy, I told you before, I don't need your help!" She snapped, tearing her hand out of Poppy's grasp.

Poppy stopped in her tracks and her playful smile started to fade. 

Barb instantly felt a wave of guilt run over her. "Shit, Popsqueak, I'm sorry, I shouldn't've yelled like that.

Poppy was quiet for a moment, then she sighed, "Barb, I know you don't really like being taken care of or anything like that, but I feel really bad about what happened tonight, and I want to make sure you know how much I appreciate with you did back there."

Barb scoffed, "It's not your fault that happened, though! Those guys were assholes, always have been!"

"Yeah, but if you hadn't rushed in, you wouldn't've gotten hurt."

"But if I hadn't rushed in, you _would've_."

"I know, and I appreciate that, I just..... I wanted to do a little something to say thanks, because I really, truly am thankful that you were there to help me with those creeps."

Barb looked Poppy in the eye. "This is really bugging you, isn't it?"

Poppy nodded solemnly.

"Is that why you've been all, like, depressed since we left the venue?"

"Was it really that obvious?" Poppy asked with a sad smile.

"When you're the living embodiment of rainbows and happiness, it's not exactly subtle when you're upset."

Poppy couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"Buuuuuuttttttt," Barb started, groaning dramatically, "I suppose if you _reeeeeaaaaaaaallllyy_ feel like you need to do that, I could let you help me, just this one time."

"Really!?!"

Barb's heart warmed at the sight of Poppy's whole demeanor lighting back up. "Really really."

"Oh this is gonna be great! C'mon!" Barb's hand was back in Poppy's and she was once more led towards her bathroom.

Before she could get aware of what was going on, she found herself sat down on the toilet seat as Poppy opened the cupboard beneath the sink and started rummaging around.

"Hang on, do you actually _know_ first aid?"

"Sure do," Poppy replied, her voice slightly muffled from the cabinet. "Branch gave a seminar on it a while back."

Barb snorted, "Of course he did."

"Ah, here it is!" Poppy exclaimed as she pulled out a small red pouch.

She reached in and grabbed a small bottle of liquid and a clean rag of sorts. As she splashed the liquid onto the rag, she warned, "Ok, so this is gonna sting a bit."

"Can't hurt anymore than getting punched in the face a couple times, right?" Barb responded with a wink.

"Haha, very funny," Poppy jested with a roll of her eyes, "now hold still."

She took one of Barb's hands and rubbed the rag across her knuckles. Barb winced in pain, but didn't move her hand out of Poppy's. She couldn't help but become mesmerized in Poppy's movements, as she gently cleaned out the wounds on her hands. She was so delicate, yet so thorough, and she barely noticed as Poppy pulled out some bandages and began to wrap them around her fingers.

She was so enamored with this woman it wasn't even funny, but Barb couldn't tell her that. Not now, at least. Not while she was in such a vulnerable position.

As Poppy moved to work on her other hand, she asked, "Did you know those guys back there?"

"Unfortunately," Barb groaned. "They've been trouble as long as I've known. Back in school, their stupid leader, Spencer, liked to pick on me and other weird kids, but the thing about him was he never a great fighter. All you had to do was kick him and he'd be down, cryin' and wailin' about how he was gonna die."

Barb chuckled, "It might seem a bit harsh, but that's what he got for being a total jerk."

She half-expected Poppy to chastise her for saying such mean things, even if Spencer was a massive dickhead, but she smirked and replied, "Oh yeah. Hopefully he knows better than to mess with you from now on."

"You ever deal with jerks like that?"

Poppy hummed as she finished wrapping up her other hand, "Well, there was this guy Creek that tried to sell out the entirety of the pop tribe to the Bergens just to save his own skin, but like that's not really the same thing, though, is it?"

Barb stared at her in shock.

"....I did tell you about the Bergens, right?"

"No, no, you did, you just never told me about who the rat was," Barb said with a strained voice. "Would you be upset if he suddenly went missing without any trace of where he could've possibly gone?"

"I mean, we haven't seen him in months, but if he ever comes back, I'll let you know, but just for the record, Branch has dibs on his head."

Barb nodded. "Good to know."

"Alright, we got your hands taken care of for now...... uh....." Poppy thought about what she should attack next. "Didn't you get kicked in, like, the ribs?"

Barb winced at the memory. "Sure did, didn't I?"

"Could you lift up your shirt?"

"WHAT." Barb's face grew redder than a tomato and her heart was practically zooming out of her chest.

"No, no! Not like that!" Poppy backtracked, realizing her mistake. "I just need to check and make sure they didn't like break a rib or anything!!"

"Oh, thank god," Barb sighed in relief. Once her heart rate went down to a normal level, she added flirtily, "I was about to say, at least buy me dinner first."

Poppy rolled her eyes but she still chuckled. She reached over to grab the bottom of Barb's shirt, but hesitated at the last moment. "M-May I?"

Barb shrugged in an attempt to seem nonchalant despite her brain screaming at the highest volume it could muster. "Yeah, go for it."

Poppy grabbed Barb's shirt and lifted it up, just enough to get a good look at where she'd been kicked. There was a large darkening spot along the side of her body, and it seemed to be swelling a little bit.

Barb was so focused trying not to panic because the girl she loved was lifting up her shirt and getting _very close_ to her body, however, that she barely felt the pain.

"How does it feel?"

"Oh you know: bad."

"Is it... is it ok if I touch it?"

Barb felt her breath catch in her throat. "Y-Yeah..."

Poppy's hand gingerly brushed up against the bruise, feeling to make sure that there wasn't anything out of place.

It hurt, but Barb's head was too busy spinning at the feeling of Poppy's skin on her own to care. If her head burned any brighter, you'd be able to see it from the funk tribe.

Luckily for Barb, Poppy didn't need to inspect it for too long to figure out what was up. She lowered her shirt as she explained, "It doesn't look like anything's broken, but you might have some bruised ribs. Some ice and some rest should help that out more than anything, I think."

As she came down from her lovesick high, Barb managed to mumble, "Since when did you learn to become a doctor?"

"Since Branch got sick of patching me up whenever I did something exciting and reckless," She giggled. "We don't need to do much for your eye, just get some ice on it and eventually it should go away, and it looks like your nose's stopped bleeding, we just gotta clean up some of the blood and then we're done!"

As Poppy rinsed the rag out underneath the faucet, Barb realized that this was actually a great time to tell Poppy everything. They were in close quarters, but she still had space to leave if things got bad for whatever reason, and if things went well, well, they'd have a bit of privacy.

"Poppy," She started, "there's something I gotta tell you-"

Poppy's hand cupped around her cheek while the other began carefully wiping the blood from her face. "Sure, what's up?"

Barb's brain short circuited at the sudden contact and the genuine gesture. Her face beet red, she stammered, "I-I, uh, I-I-I wanted to, uh, I...."

".....Did you forget?"

Helpless to speak coherently, Barb just nodded.

"That's okay! I'm sure you'll remember later!" Poppy assured her as she continued to wipe away her blood. 

Barb allowed herself to melt into Poppy's touch, relaxing for the first time in ages. Maybe it was because she was exhausted, maybe it was because Poppy's skin was just so warm and soft, maybe it was because she was just so starved for physical contact, but she just let herself lean into Poppy's touch.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of blood for Poppy to clean up in the first place, so it was all over much sooner than Barb would've liked. However, noticed that, just for a moment, after she'd finished wiping away her blood, her free hand lingered on her cheek, stroking it gently with her thumb. 

"Guess that's it!" Poppy began to pack up the supplies inside the first aid kit once more. 

Barb's eyes fell on the scratch on Poppy's cheek, the one she got at the concert earlier, and then she had an idea.

"Wait!"

Poppy looked up at her, confused.

"I-It's your turn now."

"My turn?" 

"Y-Yeah, you got hurt t-too," Barb stuttered, pointing out the scratch. "So, now, uh, now we gotta fix you up too."

Poppy smiled in amusement. "Well, okay then," she said slowly, "how do you plan on helping me?"

Barb felt sweat begin to bead onto her forehead. She hesitantly reached out and grabbed the first aid kit, rooting around in it for a moment. As she searched, she'd occasionally look up at Poppy to see if she was still looking at her (she was). 

Eventually, she found what she was looking for and pulled it out: a bright purple bandaid.

She ripped it out of it's little package and removed the papers from the adhesive side. She rose up off the toilet and took a step towards Poppy, cupping her hand around her uninjured cheek. 

Carefully, as though Poppy were made of porcelain, Barb pressed the adhesive to the scratch, smoothing it out with her thumb. 

"There," she murmured, "all better."

Poppy looked a little dazed, not expecting someone as hardcore as Barb, who had taken several punches for her, to be this gentle. "Thank you," she breathed.

Barb looked into Poppy's eyes, feeling compelled to bring herself closer and closer to her face, as she mumbled, "No problem...."

Before she could stop herself, her eyes fluttered shut and she pulled Poppy's face to hers.

Their lips just barely brushed together, sending Barb's heart pounding. Her brain was telling her to stop, that it was too risky, that she was going to get herself hurt by trying to do this.

Her heart, on the other hand, told her brain to fuck off, and she pressed her lips to Poppy's.

She tasted sweet, like strawberries and cotton candy, and her lips were soft and warm against her own. 

Barb felt like her heart was going to going to implode. She'd wanted this for so long now, and now that she had it, it felt all the more incredible. 

_But what about what **Poppy** wants?_

That's when her anxiety began to catch up with her and she pulled away, turning away from Poppy as she stammered, "Oh, my god, I'm so sorry, I-I don't know what came over me, you just looked so-so-so-s0 _beautiful_ , and I was acting before I even considered what _you_ might want, and I never wanted to make you uncomfortable, I'm so fucking sorry-"

"Hey." A gentle hand closed around her own, mindful of her injuries, and gave her a supportive squeeze. Barb turned to find Poppy looking up at her with a huge dopey grin plastered over her face. 

"You," She said softly, "have no idea how long I've wanted to kiss you."

Barb's heart swelled up as she asked, "R-Really?" 

Poppy nodded with a bashful giggle.

"Well, uh, would you maybe wanna," Barb shrugged, smirking mischievously, "perhaps.... kiss a little more?"

Poppy didn't answer, simply grabbed Barb's cheeks in her hands and pulled her in close, crashing their lips together.

Barb slunk her hands around Poppy's waist while one of Poppy's hands hands traveled up into her hair. She sighed, content with everything that was happening to her. 

She'd never thought anyone would ever love her in the way she wanted so desperately to be loved, never in a million years. And yet here she was, kissing the most beautiful, kind, perfect troll she had ever met. She was just absolutely elated, and she just wanted to make sure Poppy felt as wonderful as she did right now.

Then Poppy's hand moved from her cheek to brush away a stray hair, grazing her still tender black eye in the process.

"AGH!!"

Barb pulled away and stumbled back a bit, her hands flying up to her eye. "Oh my god, oh my god, ugghhhhhh, oh my god."

"Barb, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Poppy apologized, her hands flying to her mouth. "I totally forgot about your- I didn't mean to-"

"Hey, it's okay," Barb assured her with a small smile. "'S nothing I can't handle."

"We should probably get you some of that ice, huh?" Poppy sheepishly suggested.

Barb chuckled. "Ice..... Ice sounds pretty good right now, yeah."

Barb took Poppy by the hand and led her out of the bathroom and towards the kitchen. It took them forever to get there, partially because it was on the other side of the fortress but also because they just spent most of the walk chatting and joking together, talking about whatever happened to come up at that moment.

She may have had bruises and injuries all over her, but if she was being honest, Barb had never felt better in her entire life.

**Author's Note:**

> HNGGGGGG THIS WAS WAY LONGER THAN I WAS EXPECTING IT TO BE BUT I REFUSED TO DO TWO PARTS. I AM SO TIRED. SEE Y'ALL NEXT TIME IG.
> 
> -CC


End file.
